


Signed in Blood

by celestial_seraphim



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe - Ajin Fusion, F/F, F/M, M/M, Multi, fair amount of violence obviously
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-02
Updated: 2020-06-02
Packaged: 2021-03-03 22:35:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,424
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24503230
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/celestial_seraphim/pseuds/celestial_seraphim
Summary: The day Neil was discovered as an Ajin was the day whatever life he had had crumpled apart. His mom knew what they would do to him and fled with him in tow the first chance he could. Now used to a life on the run and on his own, Neil runs into a strange group he uses for temporary safety. When he finds a tight knit group where it seems more of a miracle that they can even work together, he questions whether he should return to a life on the run.
Relationships: Neil Josten/Andrew Minyard
Comments: 2
Kudos: 26





	Signed in Blood

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! This is kind of an experimental intro to an aftg Ajin au. I always found the concept from the anime/manga interesting and thought it'd work well for an au here. I'm a bit busy with other fics at the moment, but this is one I may turn into a multi-chapter fic when I have some time freed up ^^ Feel free to let me know what you think. Obviously, I'll add more relationships and such if I continue.

_Death_. It was a concept still unknown to humanity. What lies beyond the veil? What happens after you die? They were questions that would linger on for eternity. Neil’s life was filled with death. It happened over and over again, but even he didn’t have the answers to those questions. He remembered the first time it happened, having gone by Nathaniel at the time. He was ten, and Nathan had been particularly pissed off that day, more so than usual. The Moriyamas were demanding a lot from him, and the stress and overwork left him liable to snap. Neil must’ve pushed him over the edge either with a wrong sort of look or just twitching, something any child was prone to do. In any case, that was when Nathan brandished the ax in his hand without thinking and struck it right at him. From his stance and posture, he had probably meant it to be a fake swing, simply to frighten him, but this blow struck true. The freshly sharpened blade slid right through Nathaniel’s throat, deep enough to be lethal. It easily severed the artery and left him still on the floor with crimson spilling on the floor around him. In his brief conscious moment, he remembered hearing his mom’s voice screaming as she sank to her knees by his side with merely a grunt of a curse from Nathan. 

That was when everything went dark. At the moment, he was fine with this, a bit scared, but the darkness was oddly peaceful, like going to sleep. It didn’t last long. Soon, he was waking up gasping for air. He coughed a few times before finding out that his breathing was normal again. As he felt his throat to find it was good as new, he noticed flecks of some dark substance floating around him before disappearing into the air. He saw the flabbergasted faces of his parents. He was....okay? What did this even mean? From the smile carved onto Nathan’s face, it couldn’t mean anything good. It took a mere second for his mom to pull him up onto his feet and into her arms protectively. 

She took him and ran that night, dragging him out of bed and pulling him along. Out of all the times he asked her why, she only gave him vague answers until he refused to move until she told him. Her grip on his shoulders was harsh, but he still refused. With a sigh, she bent down onto one knee and looked him right in the eyes. 

“I’m doing this to protect you, Abram. When he took an ax to you, you should’ve died from that injury, but you didn’t. Do you know what that means?” Of course he didn’t. She could see it in his eyes. With a sigh, she pulled him into a tight hug. “It means you’re an Ajin. Another name for it is demi-human. You are human, Abram, but you’re also something else. You’re something that people fear because they don’t understand it, and you’re also something people want, bad people who want to hurt you. To keep it simple, you can’t die, not permanently. When you’re ‘killed,’ you’ll be unconscious for a bit as your body revives and heals itself. You’ll come back a moment later completely fine. If I hadn’t taken you, Nathan would’ve given you over to the Moriyamas in a heartbeat, and I would never want that to happen. Running is our only option. We’ll make our own lives anyway we can, but you have to cooperate and do whatever I say. Got me?” 

He had only understood some of it. Mary had done her best to keep him sheltered from most of what his father was doing, but there had only been so much that she could do. Even so, he nodded and continued to walk with her. 

Neil Josten. That was his newest moniker and longest by far. With as far as him and his mom had traveled, there was always danger looming right around the corner. Now, ten years later, he was, for the first time, alone. It was a shoot out gone wrong. In the crossfire, she had gotten hit about..twice from what Neil remembered. When she told him to run after a sputtering cough, Neil didn’t question it. He ran as soon as she told him to, leaving her there to whatever fate awaited her. He held out hope that maybe she was an ajin like him, but there was also a high probability that she wasn’t. The guilt still weight heavy on his conscience, haunting him every time he woke up. She could be alive..she could be dead. It was easier to accept the latter. 

The current situation for Ajins wasn’t...well, much better. Governments were straight up kidnapping many known ones, while mob organizations were doing the same, seeing interest in the fact that they couldn’t die. There were quite a few advocacy and Ajin rights organizations popping up to counteract this. The researchers and scientists with a good enough conscience thought nothing could be gained through horrendous experiments. He recalled seeing the lead of one of the biggest advocacy groups and research centers on the news speaking about it: Jeremy Knox. 

“These are people. It doesn’t matter if they’re demi-humans. Are you telling me you’d sell out a loved one just because you found out they’re one of them. Sure, it’d be strange. Death is still one of the biggest mysteries to humankind, but we need to act civil. Our research centers have found out more about Ajins and newfound abilities through kindness, understanding, and voluntary experiments. We don’t force them to do anything or have any violence done onto them. We know more than most of the governments do. So, if you want to know more about them, treat them like the people they are.” 

It was a nice sentiment..but a pipe dream nonetheless. He was talking to people who saw Ajin as potential weapons. All they wanted to do was take them apart over and over again until they found something useful. 

Neil had always followed his mom’s ways of being on the run to a T. He was sporting brown contacts with brown hair dye to look as plain as possible, but even that wasn’t enough this time. He thought that, by now, they would’ve lost interest in him, but hell no, Lola and Romero were still hot on his trail. Neil was aware of Ichirou’s interest in Ajins. He heard Tetsuji Moriyama kept a whole collection of them. The fact Riko was selling out his own kind made Neil sick to his stomach. 

Lola enjoyed an unfair chase, finding excitement in watching Neil run away like a frightened rabbit. As soon as he heard the tires squealing, he hit the ground running, following along the side of the expressway. The rapid gunfire and sounds of bullets ricocheting off of cement behind him. He kept his eyes forward with trained practice. At this point, death and dying were something that came as naturally as breathing. “Resetting,” as many Ajin called it, was a quick way to fix an injury or get out of a hairy situation. Taking that initiative, Neil hopped the guard rail just as the car was catching up to him, toppling over a semi-truck trailer and onto the pavement below. He grit his teeth at the crack his arm made, knowing it was broken by the bump against his skin. Still, better than a leg. He hardly stopped at all as he made for the suspension bridge. This detour ought to buy him some time, and he thought for a moment that he was home free at least for a little while. Even as his right arm hung limply by his side, each footfall against the pavement was a step closer to temporary freedom. Neil hardly heard the gunfire behind him, only realizing when his body lurched forward and a warmth enveloping him under his shirt. Out of pure instinct, his legs kept going and going until his knees collapsed, whimpering as his face scraped the sidewalk. His body wanted to keep going, needed to keep going but nothing was cooperating as blood spread over his shirt. It wasn’t long before he was going into shock from bleeding out. His eyes searched wildly for the vehicle and attackers waiting to snatch him up, but his vision was going dark fast. Overtime, he had trained himself to get faster and faster reset times. Most likely, he’d wake back up in a minute or maybe a little under that, but like his mom had hammered into his mind, even a few seconds was enough to get caught. In his few conscious moments, he saw his father’s men running at him, eyes shifting when he saw an odd shape coming right towards them. What was strange was that they didn’t seem to notice it: some kind of creature with elongated claws out and ready. Whatever happened after that, Neil was no longer alive to see. 

Due to the numerous injuries: a broken limb and obliterated insides, it took more like two minutes for Neil to reset and wake up. When his eyes fluttered open, he spotted the familiar dark specks of black matter disappearing around him. As soon as he was able to suck in a breath, he immediately shot himself up or...tried to. A heavy boot to his back pushed him back down to the ground. He half expected to hear a gun cocking but instead, felt the point of a knife graze the back of his neck. 

“Andrew, at least let him fully wake up. He just came back.” A girl’s voice reprimanded whoever it was that was pinning him to the ground, though it still sounded soft. 

“Renee, you and I both saw what he did. This one’s especially destructive,” a guy’s voice drawled in a bored tone, although he did take his boot off of Neil. “Hey, Ajin. Do you even know what you did? Or did you just die right away? I bet you didn’t.” 

“And you know I’m an Ajin too. Ghosts can be..difficult to control, especially when you’re not used to it,” the girl whom Neil assumed was “Renee” said. Another Ajin? And one that was free? 

“Oh, of course, Renee, but the difference is you’re in control of yours. This one is a bit more...feral,” Andrew chuckled. Withdrawing the knife, he finally allowed Neil to look around and get up onto his knees. Neil felt his throat go dry when he saw the scene. All that was left of the group pursuing him was a pile of limbs and a pool of blood. He did his best not to dry heave at the sight. 

“I..It was self defense. Those people wanted to capture me,” Neil said quickly as he wiped his mouth. He was finally able to see them now: a short blonde brandishing a knife with hazel eyes that seemed to bore into him dressed in all black. The girl, Renee, was like the exact opposite. She wore pastels with short platinum blonde hair dyed in a rainbow of colors at the ends. 

“Uh huh. Likely story. It’s okay to admit that you wanted them dead. You must be a junkie for that kind of thing. I know it when I see it,” Andrew sneered, watching Neil’s face scrunch up in amusement. 

“My name is Neil.” 

“Am I supposed to believe that? Come on, use your head, junkie. I know how jumpy you demi-humans can be. Not that I can really blame you much for that. But out here, trust is a luxury as I’m sure you understand.”   
He watched as Andrew flipped the knife in his hand with ease. There was that fight or flight kicking in again, and Neil’s legs were itching to start running again. What if they were with the government or some..weird organization. He could be out of the frying pan and into the fire. Just as he tried to, Andrew stomped a boot down onto his ankle hard enough to make Neil whimper. Renee carefully placed a hand on his shoulder for just a second before kneeling down by Neil’s side. 

“Don’t worry. We’re here to help. We’re a part of a group that takes in Ajin or..well, anyone in need of help who need a place to go. You have a powerful ghost, and we can help with controlling it. I’m an Ajin along with a few others. You should join us but..the choice is yours,” Renee said in a gentle tone, giving Neil a smile. Neil sensed no sort of animosity from her which only unnerved him more. 

“What she means is your choices are you either go there with us, or we can drag you there by your legs. Pretty sure it’s better than whatever sorry life it is your living right now, junkie,” Andrew said with a laugh that made Neil practically growl. 

“Andrew, that hardly helps,” Renee sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose.   
She didn’t need to wait long for an answer from Neil as he peered over to see Lola’s car nearby. He had been lying here for far too long. He gave Renee a nod as he quickly got back onto his feet. 

“Y-yeah, sure. I’ll go with you guys. Can we just..leave as soon as possible?” 

“Uh, yeah, sure thing,” Renee said, trying to find out what Neil was staring at. 

“We better get the skittish rabbit out of here before he ends up running away, or I guess it’d be more like ‘hopping’ away,” Andrew chuckled, already lighting up a cigarette. He gestured to the both of them before starting to walk down the street toward their car. 

“Fuck you,” Neil spat but followed them begrudgingly. If anything, this would at least get him away from his current situation. He swallowed dryly as he watched Lola’s car get further and further away. Groups weren’t exactly his thing, but it could be used for temporary safety. Situations like this were always something he could dip out of whenever he felt the need. Although, the inside of any vehicle felt more like a prison to him, shuddering as the doors closed and locked. He willed away any regret, whispering apologies to his mom for this. If a situation came up to get him out of something hairy, he had to take it. 


End file.
